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Michael Miller (New Earth)
(1959) Although at first he was able to deplete the Martian Manhunter of energy with his built-in blowtorch, the Manhunter eventually grabbed the ground Miller was standing on and brought him to an altitude where the winds would snuff out his flames. Miller is also known to have at least at one point been responsible for a wife and child, but he was clearly a failure at it. He did not appear again until recently, when he was seen robbing a bank and reluctantly fighting Red Arrow and Hawkgirl.Justice League of America (Volume 2) #21 (2008) It has been stated that chronologically it has been 8 years since his arrest. He hates the Martian Manhunter more than anything for "ruining his life," and attempts to avoid superheroes at all costs. He recently enlisted with Libra's new Secret Society of Super-Villains. For joining, Libra promised him power, and his heart's desire, "revenge against the Martian Manhunter." Later, the Human Flame's wish would actually be the first Libra fulfilled, when the Society kidnapped J'onn J'onzz, drugged him and brutally murdered him by stabbing him through the chest with Libra's flaming staff. Henceforth, Libra, referring to him as an "idiot", applied an Apokoliptian helmet to his head and turned the Human Flame into a Justifier, servant of Anti-Life. Libra even used the Human Flame amongst other Justifiers to persuade Lex Luthor to swear an allegiance to Darkseid or be turned into a Justifier. The Human Flame was among the Justifiers under Lex Luthor's control that were fighting the Female Furies. Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! After Final Crisis, it's revealed that the Human Flame had a wife and child, but was divorced. The Flame tries to hide while pursued by the Kyrgyzstani Mafia for stealing a cache of money, the villains that Libra enslaved during the Final Crisis, and the Justice League members John Stewart and Firestorm. However, his costume is badly damaged during a fight with the mob, and the Human Flame seeks out Heat Wave, hoping to purchase one of the latter's signature flamethrower guns. Heatwave refuses, denouncing him as "pathetic", and gives him an harsh beating. Wounded and unable to afford health care, the Human Flame turns to General Immortus who turns him over to Professor Milo. Milo fixes his injuries, and adds cybernetic parts, adding strength and invulnerability, and implanted flamethrowers in his chest, mouth and arms. However, to ensure the Flame's loyalty, Immortus has his flamethrowers rigged to cause intense pain whenever he uses them, and orders him to kill Immortus' foe, N-Emy (whom General Immortus blamed for stealing something from him). The Human Flame later attempts some freelance jobs, stealing from a bank with the help of Seductress (one of the augmented henchmen (and lover) of Immortus himself) and swaying her to his side. However, he's quickly discovered and charged with treason by Milo and Immortus, who try to shut down his powers with a remote control. With Seductress rushing again to his aid, the Human Flame is able to escape, destroying the remote but injuring himself in the process. However, Human Flame discovers that his new cyborg body has uncanny recuperative abilities that fix the broken jaw suffered during his escape. He fights his former allies successfully, killing them all until Immortus shuts down his powers with a secondary, wireless remote. The Human Flame then regains his powers by sheer will (even the augmented powers), badly burning Immortus. He then tortures Professor Milo to get further augmentations to put him on par with the Justice League and everyone else wanting vengeance against him. Milo sends him to S.T.A.R. Labs to get himself infused with atomic energy in a new experimental process. There, Human Flame and Seductress are attacked by a hyper-griffin, thus alerting S.T.A.R.'s security (actually one lone scientist) who agrees to give Human Flame the energy infusion to dispatch the griffin. However, the energy infusion is temporary unless Human Flame can reach a nearby nuclear power plant and bathe in its energies, even though he risks death and a deadly meltdown. Despite the risks, he leaves Seductress behind and dupes John Stewart into dunking him in the main reactor. As a result, the nuclear plant is engulfed in a fiery explosion. Despite the magnitude of the explosion, so powerful that the assembled heroes barely manage to contain it with their maximum efforts, Flame emerges as a fiery, radioactive being, in a molten approximation of a human body, able to increase his mass and density. Calling himself the Inhuman Flame, he rampages through the city until he increases his mass to such a degree that he becomes basically immobile. Realizing that the Flame, in his quest for power, hadn't even taken into account the idea of becoming "smaller," Firestorm, Red Tornado, and John Stewart take him to outer space, tethered to heat-dispersing rod to sap his thermic-based powers. As a final revenge, and to add insult to injury, Stewart creates a cell-phone construct and takes a photo of the captive Human Flame, stressing the similarities to Martian Manhunter's fate. | Powers = | Abilities = | Strength = | Weaknesses = * | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = * Ultra-Thermic Torch * Blow Torch: A modified oxyacetylene torch that allows him to melt through solid rock in massive quantities. | Notes = * Character is not to be confused with artist Mike S. Miller. | Trivia = * The original story featuring "The Human Flame" in his fight against J'onn J'onzz can be found in the second edition of Showcase Presents: The Martian Manhunter." | DC = | Wikipedia = Human Flame | Links = | Recommended = * Final Crisis * Final Crisis Aftermath: Run! }} Category:Criminals